University Libraries Promotion and Tenure Recognition

This book is the first one that I ever read by myself, over and over of course. As a literacy teacher it marks the beginning of my play with the written word. The only thing more significant to me than literacy is experiencing life with Peggy and our children, and literacy even helps me do that more fully.

In my teaching, I realized that "ideas are bigger than books" and when I gave this idea to my students it helped them become better readers and writers. This book taught me so much through the transaction of the words, pictures, and my world. It taught me to embrace people as all different. It taught me explore the variety of activities available in life. It taught me that sitting on the roof, or under the porch, were okay things to do even if convention said otherwise. It taught me about perspective, about fun, about habits and chaos, and about friendship and love. It gave me cool places full of friends, like in a boat on a moonlight lake, or on a tree-top full of crazy games. Maybe most importantly, I learned about persistence; if at first someone doesn't like your hat, you try again, then again, and in the end ride off into the sunset in a convertible with that special someone wearing great party hats. (I do happen to have a special someone, a convertible, and a box of party hats.)

I invite you to explore this book and the ideas that connect your life to the pictures and words. Follow your big ideas to your underlying values. Of course, some ideas will be embraced, some dreamed, some sought, and some values will be questioned, some rejected, and some shared. Such is the power that literacy gives us.